Jayde Riviere: Man United ‘don’t want to be just another team’ in WSL title race

Ahead of their season opener against London City Lionesses on Friday, Jayde Riviere spoke exclusively to Her Football Hub at Manchester United’s media day. The full-back discussed her personal goals for the season, playing in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, and overcoming injury.

The 25-year-old defender is closing in on a century of appearances for the Reds, and wants to use last season’s disappointment in their favour ahead of the new WSL campaign.

After a season that brought United’s first appearance in the Champions League and a League Cup final, fans were left disappointed after the side finished fourth in the table. Without European football this season, Riviere is targeting a bigger role both on and off the pitch.

The full-back wants to become more of an attacking threat, help nurture the club’s younger players and, above all, bring silverware back home to Manchester.

“We don’t want to be another team that just gets knocked out, we want to be a team of contenders,” she said. “So for us, that applies in our league as well. We don’t want to just be another team. We want to be a team that’s competing for things and winning titles.”

When did Jayde Riviere join Manchester United?

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Riviere joined Manchester United in January 2023, singing her first professional contract after a college career at the University of Michigan. Now just 25-years-old, the full-back has quickly become one of United’s most valuable and experienced played.

The defender currently sits just shy of 100 appearances, with 78 games for the Reds across all competitions. A milestone she never thought she’d reach.

“I never thought I’d play for a United point blank period,” she said. “So anything that comes with that is just an achievement.”

Having suffered a multitude of injuries during her Reds career, it makes the achievement even more special.

“I think being as unfortunate with injuries and still being able to have 75 appearances is something that I can take away and be proud of and anything that comes further on is another accomplishment to add to the book.”

Riviere believes her wholehearted approach to defending has occasionally come at a cost. She admitted that her style of play, particularly her willingness to put her body on the line, has contributed to some of the injury setbacks she’s experienced.

“It’s unfortunate that there’s this stigma around being injury prone because it comes with the sport. It’s something that every great footballer goes through and it’s unfortunate but for me, it’s positive.”

The Canadian international believes she’s matured with every season, learning when to take risks and when to manage her body more effectively.

“My first season, I went through a lot to kind of get up to the pace of the season,” she said. “I put my whole body into tackles, so I sometimes come on the negative end of those things.

“But every season I’ve become more and more available. I’ve become more into my own.”

Reflecting on last season

What started as a strong season for United ultimately ended in disappointment. They went trophyless after losing out to Chelsea in the Subway League Cup final, before crashing out in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup to the Blues in the Round of 16.

In the league, United finished fourth, nine points off Champions League qualification. It seemed that midweek European commitments combined with unfortunate injuries held United back from their full potential.

“It was disappointing to finish fourth in the league,” said Riviere. ”There’s still some positives to take away from that especially going as far as we did in Champions League and being runners-up in the cup.

“But obviously, as a club with such a high ambition, there’s goals we want to attain, and winning the league is one of them. So we definitely fell short of that goal. So now it’s about applying our lessons from last season into this one.”

In their maiden UWCL campaign, United impressed early on and seemed to take to Europe like a duck to water. The league phase saw them come out victorious against some of Europe’s best sides such as Atletico Madrid, PSG, and Juventus.

What did United learn from their Champions League journey?

Those high-intensity European encounters provided United with valuable lessons, giving the squad experience they can now use as a foundation for their ambitions moving forward.

“I think we learned European football is a different type of beast. It definitely adds a lot to the mind and body because you go from playing one games a week to almost having three.

The additional travel and preparation offered United an important learning experience, particularly as they came up against ‘monster’ teams with a long history in the competition.

“Being able to have a Manchester United team play against Paris St. Germain at Old Trafford, those are things you can’t write a script about.

“In terms of things we’ve taken away is just, like, every team is competitive and every team has the same goal of wanting to win, and we want to be a team above those teams.”

Despite the disappointment of missing out on this year’s competition, Riviere believes the lack of midweek fixtures can instead act as ‘fuel’ as United pursue their first-ever WSL title.

“We can only now use that as fuel because we’ve been there, we’ve done that. So now we can be there and compete at the highest level.”

What are Jayde Riviere’s goals for this season?

While Riviere has established herself as an ever-present figure in the backline, she wants to add more attacking output to her game this season.

The 25-year-old regularly gets high up the flanks and whips crosses into the box, however she has managed just seven assists across her Reds career. Ahead of the new campaign, she is setting herself more ambitious targets in the final third.

“My goal for the season is to be the most attacking mind that I have been,” she explained. “I got a bit of that last season being up and down the flanks a little more, but I want to get assists. I wanna get goals.

“So for me, that’s being more attacking-minded, that’s being more threatening, taking people on, using my assets against my opponents and making sure I’m putting the ball in a place where I can have someone finish it.”

If United are to improve on last season’s fourth-place finish and challenge for major honours, Riviere knows there’s little room for a slow start. The Reds have an extremely tough start to the season starting with an opening-day clash against London City Lionesses, before facing off against Chelsea and Arsenal.

“There is no easy start in this league and I think that’s why it attracts the big names,” she said. “Every game is a competition and yes, we have a rougher start at the beginning but after that, there’s another three tougher games that we have to play, and then another three.

“For us, it gives us a jump start on the season to hit the ground running. There’s no relaxing and trying to cruise, because that’s not an option in this league.”

‘We have a good group of girls here’

United’s summer has also been surrounded by speculation, following the departure of Marc Skinner and the arrival of Eva Olid, with questions raised over the club’s investment and whether the current squad has enough depth to challenge at the top of the WSL.

But Riviere insists the players cannot afford to become distracted by matters outside of their control.

“We have a very talented group and we need to be able to maximise everyone’s talent, especially this season,” she said.

“Everyone has this speculation around not investing into the transfer window and everything like that, but we have a good group of girls here.”

The changes off the pitch and continued discussion surrounding the club could provide additional motivation, but the Canadian is determined to focus her energy on what she and her teammates can control.

“You can definitely look at is as fuel, but I also think that we signed for Man United to play football. We didn’t sign for the extracurriculars that happened outside of it, and that’s not something that we can control. So why am I going to apply energy to something I can’t exactly change?

“What I can work on and control is my attitude, how I show up in training, and how I push my teammates, and that’s ultimately what can get the best of them. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

How to watch London City Lionesses vs Manchester United

Manchester United begin their WSL campaign away to London City Lionesses on Friday evening, with Riviere and her teammates looking to put their ambitions into action from the opening weekend.

The match kicks-off at 7pm BST at the CopperJax Community Stadium, and will be shown live on Sky Sports for viewers in the UK. International fans can stream the game live on the Barclays Women’s Super League YouTube channel.

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